Topic: Breaking.

Candy Hart

Date: 2013-02-18 15:44 EST
February 17, 2013

She played to win, but it didn't happen.

Candy could feel the barrier cracking further, giving power to FireStar with the mixture of her suspicion and anger for the Lion. She watched Ticallion Carter fail again Kalamere. Kalamere?who in her mind?stood in for the right of a Beast, not to challenge her, but to hold more sway over the city. All a plot. It burned through her. She tried her best not to reach this point...

She picked up the crowbars from the table, using the movement to kiss Dillon. She didn't want to fight. She didn't want to risk what would come. She didn't have a choice.

"However this ends... I'll be needin' yah after."

"You know I'll be here."

No turning back. Candy stepped into the ring and the walls came down.

Candy Hart

Date: 2013-02-18 16:48 EST
February 17, 2013

Earth beneath her. A body pinned her in place. The fight continued to rage within. Her name. It sounded so distant. She couldn't recall anymore who she was. Though, somehow she knew she'd lost. She'd lost so much...

His lips.

Dillon. It connected everything. His lips. Her name. Her body. Candy came through the flood of Firestar's possession and surfaced with a need to hold on. Hands that had been ready to fight seconds before, now clung to the man?the lifesaver that would keep her from drowning again. She kissed him back. Kissed him as the overpowering heat that surrounded them vanished. Kissed him to confirm this one thing hadn't been lost to her. When lips finally parted, she felt his forehead press against her own.

"You alright?"

"I lost it... my control..." She could hear him clearly but not only him. She could hear the opal in her mind. Louder. Hungrier. She closed her eyes and tried to push the voice of FireStar into the recesses of her mind.

"But your regained it..."

His lips found hers again and again in quick reassuring kisses that she returned. Still needing to know that anchor to him existed, would keep her there. "For how long?" Memories haunted her. Ghost images from the times before. The bloody fights. Everything that had gotten beyond her control when FireStar took control. She looked to the side, not recognizing the bare earth or scorched trees that surrounded them. In the distance, where her heat didn't reach, snow remained. "It feed off my anger... what I am supposed t'do? Not get angry?" Candy could help the weak laugh that followed, her anger near as trademarked as Matt Simon's spinning backfist.

She sighed, looking back to the man that held her. Before him, she hadn't been able to admit it. Now, Dillon made her strong enough to see the weakness she'd refused to acknowledge before. She couldn't control the opal. She needed help. "I need t'talk to the Old Man." Had he been watching? Had he been there? Enough friction existed between herself and the holder of IceDancer that Candy sensed he wouldn't be her biggest fan after what happened. What had happened? She'd warned the wizards that manned the wards to be prepared but she had been unaware of events as they unfolded in the ring. A new panic rushed through her heart, an unknown parade of faces of those that had been there, "Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, you didn't hurt anyone."

Relief. She didn't hurt anyone. Her desire to keep the lion from gaining any ground led only to her losing control of herself and the situation. Apple. Nayun. What could have happened. The worry turned her stomach, left her twisting to face the earth as bile came up. She coughed until it was clear. Unsteady even on her hands and knees. For the first time in a long time she felt the cold, felt in through her skin and in her bones. Then warmth again?Dillon?as he picked her up and cradled her in his arms.

"Don't worry, I won't tell people about this..."

She didn't fight being carried, only curled into the warmth he offered. She felt weak and broken. But it couldn't last. It wouldn't last. She would give herself a night. One night. Already her mind thought on all the tasks she would need to accomplish the next day...

What didn't kill her...


((adapted from play))

Candy Hart

Date: 2013-02-22 13:39 EST
February 21, 2013

The whistling and continual movement of the guards through the Zen Gardens of Dragon's Gate proved too much of a distraction from the flow of Candy's thoughts. The bunker provided a better solitude, one she was more used to?being alone. Early in the morning she left Dragon's Gate, taking the path few knew, to what passed as her home. Quiet. Secure. A calmness she hadn't felt in days returned to her as she typed the security code into the panel by the door. The light switched green and she entered.

Welcome home.

Dimly lit concrete steps lead down to the second door. Her steps taking her down the stairs and through without pause. Nothing had changed. Exercise equipment, her own private little gym with a small space to practice sparring sat to the right. To the left waited a low, black-leather couch that faced away from the equipment and toward a barren wall. No television, just a barren coffee table of dark wood. Beyond the sparse living room sat a kitchen to the left and a hallway to the right. The kitchen kept with the minimalistic design?dark counters, stainless steel. An island sat in the middle, offering more space than was ever needed for food preparation. Candy didn't own any pots or pans.

Past the kitchen, a few feet down the hallway, a door to the right opened up into a small bathroom. Mirror, sink, toilet, and a tiled shower. Simple, basic. The hall ended at another door, Candy's bedroom. A mattress sat on a low wooden frame. The bed rarely made as pillows and blankets rested haphazardly upon it. A large green army duffle laid in the corner, partially spilling clothing onto the floor. Any items of importance are tucked away within hidden compartments of the bed's frame.

Nearly two years... and this is as settled as she'd made herself.

Candy took the mobile phone out of her jacket, checking the display to find no missed called or messages. Her fingers brushed over the beginning digits to Dillon's phone number, but never dialed. Losing track of time with him would be pleasant, but it wouldn't help her with the problem at hand. FireStar. Let others deal with the Lion, she couldn't be part of the solution given the cost she almost paid. She closed the phone and tossed it with her jacket onto the bed.

She needed this time alone.

Candy Hart

Date: 2013-02-22 16:07 EST
February 21, 2013 ? Continued

The unattended Badsider collected a ring of condensation around it on the coffee table. Candy watched the ceiling from the couch, hair still wet from the shower she'd taken. Time to think, but her thoughts had only focused on the task at hand. Shower. Clothes. Beer. Now it couldn't be avoided. A slow exhale and she closed her eyes.

Adapt. Matt Simon's words repeated in the voice that sounded like her own but wasn't. It snickered inside her mind, a hissing sound that she'd never made. An' Ria... that's rich. One who's never held me an' one that couldn't handle it. The opal continued to laugh.

Irritation hummed through her, a desire to hit that which plagued her mind. Though, Matt and Ria's words remained true?the opal wasn't something she could take on physically. She couldn't use her fists to beat it into submission. Shut up. I'm thinkin.

Why fight me? Let's go out an' have some fun.

Fun. A picture show of FireStar's take on fun ran through Candy's mind, set her teeth together. Y'get outta hand wit' y'r fun.

An' you don't, Rabbit? A man's smile. A first kiss. A hand gently gliding over her stomach. A hole between two steel gray eyes. A trickle of blood. The opal radiated smugness.

That wasn' fun.

Could've been... wit' me. The promise from the opal unfurled and filled like a mist in her mind. No fear. No pain. No one would hurt her again.

Her anger. Her rage. Her skills. It amplified them. But the weakness it had rooted itself into was her own defenses. Kill or be killed. Candy's hand lifted up, finding her mother's necklace. Her hand tightened around the sharp thorns of the vine wrapped crystal. Small metallic points bit into her skin from the pressure.

We're One, Candy. All y'ave t'do is stop fightin' me an' admit it...

No.

The opal's laugh. Its amusement tinted her thoughts. Who is she to stand against FireStar?

"No." The one word spoken, unwavering. She pushed the poison from her mind. The bite from the thorns reminded her who she was?her mother's daughter, her father's daughter. Ria's words echoed. You're a badass b*tch. Beneath the bite of the necklace's thorns into her fingers, her wrist itched. She ignored it. Ignored the opal trying to split her concentration.

We're One.

The itch turned into a burn, harder to ignore. For once the thought of removing the leather strands that kept the opal at her wrist didn't stop her. She sat up, eyes opening and with her left hand going to the black leather than wrapped around her wrist?intent to put the opal away from her at least. Her hand stilled. No leather cords there, only FireStar half buried into the flesh of her wrist.

Dun' fight it.

Candy Hart

Date: 2013-02-22 21:07 EST
February 21, 2013 ? Continued

Panic gripped Candy as the red opal buried itself into her flesh. The thought of movement coming too late. Fingers scraped against the fading red surface, then skin. Firestar's laugh filled not just her head but her entire body, reverberating off every muscle, bone, and nerve.

"F*ck! F*ck f*ck f*ck!"

Her thumb worried over the space where the opal had been. Flesh that appeared unaffected by the opal's passing, turned red in her futile chase after it. Wide-eyed, she stared in disbelief.

Matt's words. Adapt.

Candy closed her eyes, pushed the panic away. She could feel FireStar within herself?an angry heat entirely different from her own.


Ria's words. You're a badass b*tch but you're not the badass b*tch. Others are worth time. Train with them. LAUGH with them. F*cking make good memories.

Memories. She held on to them, pulled them to her.

Dillon's words. There is not much I do not see you being able to do. The feel on his arms around her. The press of his lips. The way he made her heart skip by only saying exactly what he thought and felt. The faith he had in her.

King's words. You already bought my loyalty, Candy.. I ain't givin' it to no one else." The struggles the girl seemed to face. The effort King was making to turn it around. Staying in rehab. Putting the work of the Women's Shelter ahead of any desire to go after the Lion.

Nayun's words. Miss Candy is special to me. The princess in her red cloak. Little Red Riding Hood. Like a shadow that followed her... but more. A warrior and friend that would stand beside her even in the toughest of times.

Lucy. Apple and her 'Overlord of my <3' t-shirts. Fio's offer. The community. Those she trained. Her mother. Her father. She filled her thoughts with everything that she'd been, everything that she currently was, and everything she hoped to become. A part of something bigger than herself. Awareness of the relationships she'd built in the last two years. She always thought it'd be easy to get up and disappear one day. Now she knew... she wouldn't do that. She couldn't.

Ria's words. It's less about a wall against it and more a wall around you.

She could feel FireStar within her, but its amusement had died.

She wouldn't abandon those that had become her friends... her new family. She wouldn't put them at risk, not for herself... not for vengeance... not for anything. And she certainly wouldn't put them at risk by giving in to some mouthy magical rock!

A change in the tide. She could sense the opal's confusion as its hold gave way beneath her will. Surrounded by her thoughts and memories, she pushed the opal back?out of nerves, out of bone, out of muscle. She pushed its voice to the recesses of her mind and then pushed it back even further.

Small and perplexed, FireStar raged, a moth battering against indifferent glass.

Eyes opened. The passage of time lost to her. The mental battle took the same toll as any physical one, leaving her worn. Tiredly, Candy fell onto her back. A breathless sentence uttered just before she fell asleep... "Not y'r f*ckin puppet."

Candy Hart

Date: 2013-02-23 16:00 EST
February 22, 2013

She couldn't remember her dreams, though the fading images of flames haunted her. A soreness existed in her throat as though she'd been screaming. It took a while for Candy to remember where she was, groggily blinking as she sat up on the couch. Her head pounded. Tired feet brought her to standing, yawning with a stretch. Barefoot, she padded to the bathroom to get something for the dull pain that beat within her skull. No attention given to the worn woman that met her in the mirror. A pill retrieved and swallowed with a handful of water before Candy moved the rest of the way down the hall to her room.

The mobile phone waited in the same place she'd left it the day before. She sat on the edge of the bed and picked it up, flicking it open to check for any messages missed. None. Good. Thumb traveled over the number for the Fresher Mat, her other?private?messaging service, and brought the phone to her ear.

Two rings before someone answered, "What do you want?"

Her mouth opened but something didn't work. No sound came out in reply.

The voice on the other end sounded perturbed. "Hello? Hello? I can hear you breathing."

Another stint of silence, the person on the other end muttered and hung up. Candy looked at her phone at a lost for the words she apparently couldn't form. The other hand going up and rubbing her throat.

Sh*t.

Her thoughts returned to yesterday. To the opal and the battle between them. Without releasing her phone, Candy walked back to the couch. Kneeling and feeling around in the cushions until she found what she'd been looking for... at least part of it. Broken, black leather strands. Long enough to hold FireStar to her wrist. No opal.

FireStar remained within her mind, isolated from her yet there. She could pick up no sense of accomplishment or delight from the opal. A prodding with her thoughts revealed the rock to be just as clueless as she in the current situation. With the leather straps in one hand and her phone in the other, she sat down on the couch.

Sh*t.